Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 USM IS lens

jerryr

Hi - I am thinking about purchasing the

Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 USM IS lens.

How about using this lens for sports pictures? If anyone has any examples they can post or place the URL, that would be awesome for everyone to take a look at.


Thanks - jr

windoze

jerryr wrote:

Hi - I am thinking about purchasing the

Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 USM IS lens.

How about using this lens for sports pictures? If anyone has any examples they can post or place the URL, that would be awesome for everyone to take a look at.


Thanks - jr

i own his lens, unfortunately i havent had a chance to use it in a long time. it is going to be my walk around everday lens - its quite sharp!! the color, contrast and bokeh were extremely pleasant when i tried this lens.... much better than i or anyone expected it to be for the price..... watch dell! I picked mine up from dell at $520.00 when it was introduced. i havent used it since then nor have i used it for sports........ sounds like im not very helpful except to say, its a VERY GOOD lens for the price... I recommend it!


troy

Mike Lane

jerryr wrote:

Hi - I am thinking about purchasing the

Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 USM IS lens.

How about using this lens for sports pictures? If anyone has any examples they can post or place the URL, that would be awesome for everyone to take a look at.


Thanks - jr

Why not look for a Sigma 50-500 f/4-6.3 Bigma lens? It's not small but you'll be able to get closer to the action. And really, it's probably a better lens than the 70-300. Anyhow, you can probably find a copy for the $800 range.

HeldDown

If you're planning on doing indoor/night sports, I don't think this lens is going to be what you're looking for. The IS isn't going to help you with moving subjects very much, so you'll essentially be stuck with a fairly slow lens. You're better off looking at something like the Sigma 70-200 f/2.8, and if you need the range, putting a 1.4 on it (can you do that with the Sigma?)
I'd ask Daniel re: the Sigma, he seems pretty keen on it lately.
Good luck!

windoze

Mike Lane wrote:

Why not look for a Sigma 50-500 f/4-6.3 Bigma lens? It's not small but you'll be able to get closer to the action. And really, it's probably a better lens than the 70-300. Anyhow, you can probably find a copy for the $800 range.

the 70-300 blows away the sigma 50-500 in terms of sharpness.....
it might not be the lens you need but dont underestimate this lens - it gets a 9.1 over on FM.......


troy

Mongrel

Hi JerryR and welcome Dgrin,
I think we need to slow things down a bit here and get some more info from you (if you don't mind ).

Seems you are asking two basic questions:

1. How is the Canon EF 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS?
2. How is this lens for sports?

The first one is easy-

By all accounts this new version 70-300 is Canon's latest and greatest 'bang for the buck' zoom. Most owners are reporting very good to great results with it like Windoze. It's a pretty versatile range and has the added benefit of being USM and IS. For a walk-around a most definate must-consider lens.

Now as to the second question-

Well...erm....ah......

"Sports" is a very generalized term. What sport? What time of day? Do you realize that IS is no advantage for shooting sports?

Taking that into consideration we must give a "yes and no" answer...

Yes IF:

1. You are shooting in good light, outdoors.

No IF:

1. You are shooting at night, dusk or under very cloudly skies.
2. You are concerned with player isolation and the blurring of backgrounds.
3. You are not depending on IS to help your shots.
4. You are shooting *any* sport indoors.

You would probably do OK for the casual sideline shooting of youth soccer, field hockey, football or lacrosse on those nice bright fall and spring days. If you are more serious about shooting sports OUTDOORS in 'good light' you should to consider the Sigma 100-300 f/4 EX, the Canon 300 f/4L IS, or any of the f/2.8 70-200 with a teleconverter.

For ANY under the lights shooting, don't even consider anything slower than f/2.8. For any indoors sports, look for a prime f/2.0 or faster.

Don't forget to report back!

Good luck and good light,

Mongrel

mushy

I own the lens in question and use it for rock climbing, bird photography and anything else at a distance. Not being a complete camera guru but i love it, the stabiliser keeps up with flying birds or people taking whippers while climbing. I was even able to get some pretty sharp shots while sitting on the back of a speed boat shooting wake boarders.
The USM is fast unless you miss a subject completely and it goes off to infinity, as sometimes it struggles to refocus quick enough. Apart from that I am happy with the money I spent on it.
(Used on a Canon 20D)

Hope this helps from an amateur perspective.

Red Baron

I had the older version of this lens and I agree with Mongrel's assessment - it's usable for certain outdoor sports but forget about indoor sports unless you're intending on using flash (not a good idea in my opinion). Simply put, this lens is generally too slow for sports. I now use a 70-200 2.8L or a 50 1.4 depending on the location and sport. If you're serious about shooting sports look around in the used market or check out the offerings from third-party vendors.

Mongrel states that IS is of no use for sports - I don't entirely agree with this. It's true that IS does nothing for subject movement but it will, nonetheless, still minimize the effects of camera shake which is a benefit when shooting sports where you're likely to be moving/shaking the camera whether of not you realize it.

jerryr

Yes

Mongrel wrote:

I think we need to slow things down a bit here and get some more info from you (if you don't mind ).

Seems you are asking two basic questions:

1. How is the Canon EF 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS?
2. How is this lens for sports?

The first one is easy-

By all accounts this new version 70-300 is Canon's latest and greatest 'bang for the buck' zoom. Most owners are reporting very good to great results with it like Windoze. It's a pretty versatile range and has the added benefit of being USM and IS. For a walk-around a most definate must-consider lens.

Now as to the second question-

Well...erm....ah......

"Sports" is a very generalized term. What sport? What time of day? Do you realize that IS is no advantage for shooting sports?

Taking that into consideration we must give a "yes and no" answer...

Yes IF:

1. You are shooting in good light, outdoors.

No IF:

1. You are shooting at night, dusk or under very cloudly skies.
2. You are concerned with player isolation and the blurring of backgrounds.
3. You are not depending on IS to help your shots.
4. You are shooting *any* sport indoors.

You would probably do OK for the casual sideline shooting of youth soccer, field hockey, football or lacrosse on those nice bright fall and spring days. If you are more serious about shooting sports OUTDOORS in 'good light' you should to consider the Sigma 100-300 f/4 EX, the Canon 300 f/4L IS, or any of the f/2.8 70-200 with a teleconverter.

For ANY under the lights shooting, don't even consider anything slower than f/2.8. For any indoors sports, look for a prime f/2.0 or faster.

Don't forget to report back!

Good luck and good light,

Mongrel

Hi Mogrel - the answer to your questions are :
Yes - the lens would be used outdoors
Yes - the lesn would be used for casual sideline shooting
From the feedback I am getting, it sounds as if I have a winner of lens here. Just now looking for some good examples.
Thank you so much for your help - jerry

windoze

jerryr wrote:

Hi - I am thinking about purchasing the

Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 USM IS lens.

How about using this lens for sports pictures? If anyone has any examples they can post or place the URL, that would be awesome for everyone to take a look at.


Thanks - jr

Here ya go:
Canon EF 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM Lens $611.95 - 15% off coupon
Code: ?P3TDK5XVBSCLT Exp 2/4 5:59am CT or 125 uses = $520.16 shipped free.